My Name is Ziren
by Ikobe
Summary: [Chapter 5 up - new charas!] The adventures of Ziren Diget continue, with the introduction of an old friend.
1. The Jump

[Ziren Diget is pronounces 'siren dee-jhet']  
  
¦-¦- Matrix Adventures -¦-¦  
  
"Ziren? Ziren, where the hell are you?" This was not a safe place. It was a large, dank room, and the roof looked like it would fall at any minute, crushing the whole building. "Ziren!" Neo stood at the door, trying to let some light into the building. "Neo, get out!" He could hear her voice, but he couldn't see her. "Where are you?" A few splinters and a handful of dust fell from the roof. Neo looked up, and suspended in the air was the young woman, her long black coat flapping slightly in the cold draughts. "Neo, please, get out..." Suddenly, from what seemed out of nowhere, he could see the reflections of dozens and dozens of sunglasses. "Mr. Anderson..." The voice echoed around from every corner. "Run for it!" she screamed, making more dust fall, but it was too late, five Agents, all in Smith's image, had shut the door behind him. If he tried to escape, the whole building would collapse in the first tremor, killing both Reset and himself. It was going to be a very careful fight.  
  
Trying to fight the Agents had never been this hard before, and he'd just have to keep fighting them. Was that it, was that the trap? Keep Neo fighting until he had to submit? Or should he take a chance and just hope that he could save Ziren before the building collapsed on them? He couldn't risk being trapped, so flying would be the only option. Seven Agents leaps at him at once, so he jumped up and spun, which gave him just enough lift to land on a pile of shaky wooden boxes. From here, maybe he could do it... he crouched down, the moulded air sending Agents falling back to the ground, and then looking up for a second, he pushed down and then rocketed up, snatching Ziren round her waist, and causing the entire industrial room to explode on collision.   
  
Her name was Ziren Diget, although everyone just called her Ziren. Her hair, outside of the Matrix, was quite long, but it varied in length, and it was the dame grey-brown as her eyes. Inside the Matrix, however, her hair was very long, coloured like fire in all different shades of amber, yellow and red, tied back intricately. Even though her appearance changed, her character was the same in both worlds. Like her Matrix-hair, she was fiery, and had a very short temper, but this firelike spirit in her made her extremely passionate and creative, and whatever she did, she did with heart. Now she was relatively safe, back in Zion, alone in her tiny cell-house. She sat on her bed, her eyes wandering around the room with no fascination. After a while she was distracted by a tapping on the metal front door. "It's open," she called through with fake enthusiasm. "Neo..." She lowered her head, trying to avoid eye contact with him. "I'm sorry about today, if I'd known about the Agents in the-" Neo shut the door, and it locked with a click.  
  
"There's no need to apologise, how were you meant to know?" Ziren turned away from the young man and looked down at the floor. "I don't know what I thought I was going to do. I knew there were Agents nearby, I wanted to... I wanted to destroy them, prove myself to you. I am so jealous of you, Neo, you don't know the half of it." Ziren's cold eyes glazed over with dark tears. Neo put his hand on her shoulder, and even though he'd spent no longer than a week around her, he felt like he really knew her. The same feeling he got the first time he set eyes on Trinity. "It's not for Zion, is it. The reason why you went after them." She shook her head and felt a cold tear fall down her face. "They took my family. They killed them just before they were unplugged. Ever since that day I found myself in Zion I've wanted to be like you and Trinity and Morpheus, I've wanted to go back into the Matrix..." She swallowed and breathed heavily, blinking back any more tears. Neo pulled her gently round so she was forced to face him. "Zi... Ziren, don't get upset. A lot of things..." He glanced at the door, and then turned back to her with a weak smile. "Don't let Morpheus know I said this, but a lot of things we can't control, a lot of things are determined by fate no matter how much we try to disregard them, not matter how much we deny the existence of fate it happens. You shouldn't be upset about something you had no control over. Jesus, if I could turn back time there's a lot of crap I'd change."  
  
Ziren wiped her eyes on the back of her hand. "That boy... Mouse." Neo nodded in reply, though a little unsure of how she knew of Mouse. "Neo... what was it like when you were unplugged?" she asked timidly, looking right into his dark brown eyes, searching for an answer to her pain and disappointment and ultimately her shame. "Screwed up... nauseous... ever seen those horror movies with zombies in 'em? Like that." Ziren smiled weakly as she tried to remember her own unplugging. "All I remember seeing is lights and pins for a few seconds, and the time I slept between the times I opened my eyes could have been minutes or weeks... and then I woke up in this cell, and I was free. Well, if you can call living down in Zion freedom. I was free from the Matrix at least."  
  
Nausea and insomnia took over ever aching minute of the next day as she started to feel the afterburn of trying to fight an Agent. She lay curled up on her bed, her eyes framed by dark rings. One minute she would be burning up and the next she was deathly cold, and all the time she cried, whispering listless screams, calling out for help. This is what often killed them if they hadn't been killed in the Matrix. Neo crouched down at her side and looked into her almost comatose eyes, liquidated from tears and lack of sleep. "Zi, it's me... c'mon, Ziren, don't die on me now." Her cold eyes slowly went into range of Neo and stared blankly into him, which made a chill run down his spine. He remembered the solemn stare, identical to Trinity's. "N-n-neo...?" Her speech was barely discernable. "Ziren..." He held her hand tight in his own, and was amazed at how quickly it changed temperature. "Don't die on me, Ziren Diget, don't you dare die on me, not after what you did in the Matrix."   
  
Suddenly, she let out a loud wail, somewhere between a screech and a roar and dug her bitten-up nails into the back of Neo's hand as she wretched and arched her back, drenched in a cold sweat, before vomiting up a grey-green liquid, flecked with blood, which gave off a very acidic odour. Her body went loose and she fell softly onto her side, hardly a grip on Neo's hand at all, eyes shut, soft mousey hair tied loosely behind her ears, a little of the poison-like vomit still on her lips. "Ziren, are you alright? Ziren!" Someone was banging furiously on the other side of the door. Neo stood up and opened it, and on the other side a young woman and a slightly older man barged past him. "Ziren! Oh God..." The young woman turned round and faced Neo. "She went after Agents?" Neo went to reply but the man interrupted him. "Yeah, this is the shit alright... but I'm surprised she managed to puke it up..." Before Neo could say any more, they had taken a small sample of the vomit and disappeared with Ziren.  
  
Trinity was waiting for Neo when he returned from Ziren's cell, and the second he walked through the door she rushed over to him and kissed him. "Neo... oh God, I wish you'd stop going off like that... I missed you so much..." She buried her head in his chest and clung to him as tight as she could. Neo stroked her hair softly and sat down, Trinity still holding onto him. "Is Ziren alright?" she asked softly, looking up at her boyfriend, tracing round the plugholes down his spine. "Honestly, I don't know. She had this freak puke attack when I was in her cell and then these two other guys - medics, I guess - came in and took her away. I hope she's okay, she had a pretty tough time in the Matrix." Trinity kissed him again and nodded. "I heard... she went to fight the Agents? That takes a lot of nerve... she has her reasons though, I guess."   
  
"Ziren, before you go into the Matrix again, I think that maybe you should run through some of the training exercises, as, let me put it this way, a rehabilitation system for your mind. After that Agent attack, going straight back into the Matrix-"  
  
"I've been resting for three weeks, I wouldn't say I'd be going back in straight away," she protested as her new captain, Morpheus, tried to explain the program. Her old captain had since depointed her, but Morpheus, being the person he was, allowed her to be part of his ship team. "Morpheus, I'm really honoured and appreciative of all this, but is it necessary?" Morpheus gently guided her head back down into the seat. "Alright then, how about we just run the City Jump program?" Ziren sighed and smiled. "If you insist... thanks, Morpheus. I shouldn't argue with you, but I'm just..." Morpheus nodded in reply. "I know it is hard, but see how far you have come. Who knows, you might make the jump this time."  
  
She stood on the rooftop, a light wind making the few strands of untied hair dance about, the tail of her burgundy-red coat gently hovering behind her. "Free your mind..." She stook a deep breath and stared across at the other side. For a brief moment, she felt Agent Smith's hand snatch at her shoulder again and pull her back, and in her chair outside the Matrix her heart rate inscreased rapidly. Link watched over her from the code-seat of the Neb. "C'mon, Zi..." Trinity wandered tiredly out of Neo's room, wearing only a towel, woken up by the sound of the bleeping monitors. "What's... going on?" she asked through a yawn. Suddenly, her pulseometer peaked so much it looked like a thick band on the screen, and stopped dead still like it. "Holy shit-" Inside the Matrix, things were even more chatoic.  
  
Morpheus could only stare in awe as the fiery-haired young woman stood still in the air. "Holy shit..." Her breathing was coarse as she looked down at the city below her. "Keep walking, Ziren!" Outside, the screens were going haywire. "The program's crashing? The program's crashing!" Link yelled, typing furiously as he tried to fix it. Morpheus was pulled out safely enough, but Ziren was stuck inside. "If we try and pull her out with her heart rate so high she could die!" The sky started to rupture and fray as the program fell more and more into decline. "It's a virus! Shut the program down before it spreads!" Link could only stare at the screen as dripping text fell like a thick blur. "Sir, it's frozen up!" Morpheus looked back at the young woman in the chair, her hands clawing at the arms, scratching the metal. "We have no choice, we're going to have to pull her out, and just hope she doesn't die." Trinity clutched at the hem of her towel anxiously, unable to do anything to help. "Okay... three... two... one..." Ziren shot up with a yell, nearly breaking the arms of the chair. "HOLY SHIT!" she roared, breathing heavily. "Ziren- Ziren, are you alright? Ziren!" Trinity tried to get her attention as best she could. "What happened? Agent Smith- and the sky- and I froze-" She tried to put everything into sense but it just wasn't working. "Whoa, back up a second - there was an Agent?" Link interrupted, leaving the frozen screens. "Morpheus?" Morpheus shook his head. "But... I... felt him, he was there, he touched me, I felt it!" She put her head and in her hands and drew her knees up. "I know he was there." Trinity sighed and put her arm round the younger woman's shoulders and looked up at Morpheus. "Shut down the program operation at the mains. Trinity, get dressed, wake up Neo and take her back down to Zion." 


	2. The Thrill of Neo I

And there's a Spaced reference... I couldn't help it! Oh, and the stars indicate that Zi and Neo had sex. But I don't write graphic sex. Kind of a pity though, I guess ;)  
  
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"So she finally wakes up." The comment was more playful than scorning, and as Ziren Diget rolled over from her half-drugged sleep, she smiled. "Neo." The dark haired young man moved from the dining table to her bedside. Ziren's medium mousy-brown hair fell in her face as she tried to sit up, and she spent the next thirty seconds trying to drag it all back. "Where's Trinity?" she asked casually, scraping all but a few strands either side up into a fairly neat ponytail. "With Morpheus and Link trying to fix the mess *you* made," he replied, poking her on the forehead gently. Ziren was slightly oblivious to the chaos on the Nebuchadnezzar. "Well maybe if you and Trin weren't-" she stopped herself with a sly grin, even though the temptation to wind up Neo about his sex life was almost unbearable. Neo seemed to get the point of the message though, and went quiet. "So... how are things between you and Trinity?" She got up a little hazily and wandered over to her tiny kitchen unit. "Want anything? It's *Zion fresh*, none of that apparently tasty stuff in the Matrix." Neo looked at her intriguedly. "I'm alright, thanks. And Trin and I are great." She put the small kettle on the hob and found a tin cup on the back. "Okay." The water boiled with a neat 'whoosh', no steam coming off (oh, how the intrigues of Zion's heat and water system annoyed her). "It must be nice, having someone like Trinity. Or, the male equivalent in my case. Having someone you can depend on, someone you truly and honestly care for, someone you'd *die* for..." She poured the boiling water into the cup and tossed in a teabag. "I miss tea with milk, stupid as it sounds, seeing as I never really had tea with milk, or tea at all," she muttered, straining the bag and dropping it into the compost bin.  
  
Neo watched her drink the bitter Zion tea, and she stared back at him, sitting cross-legged on the tabletop. She put down her cup and dropped her legs so they swung down off the table. "What do you think of when you sleep with her?" she asked timidly. She knew she shouldn't ask, but having Neo all alone with her made questions like that hard to ignore. It wasn't very often you saw Neo and Trinity apart these days. "What do you think I think of?" Ziren shrugged and forced down the rest of her tea. "I don't know, just curious..." Neo wandered over and sat down on the table next to her. "Most of the time, obviously, I'm thinking about Trinity. Sometimes I think about other things, like Zion, like the Matrix, like you..." Ziren went pale at the last part of his sentence. "Neo..." She looked right into his dark brown eyes, paralysed with confusion and something else, something more, something like lust...? Neo brushed a strand of mousey-brown hair out of her face. "Shh.. don't cheapen this..." he whispered, not that Ziren could find the words to speak. She swallowed briefly and nodded, not once losing eye contact with him.  
  
****  
  
Ziren clung to the young man's neck as they finally broke apart, half-dressed. "God... Neo..." she gasped, closing her eyes as she kissed him again, stroking his hair softly. Neo shifted down a little and kissed the young woman's neck, still holding tightly to her waist. "Tell me you love me," she whispered, as she regained her breath. "Wha-what?" She sat up, still sweating and finding it a little hard to breathe. "Tell me you love me." Neo rested his forehead against hers. "Ziren, I-" Suddenly, the young woman's eyes snapped open. "What the...?" She clutched the edge of her blanket and squinted the cold sweat out of her eyes, as the dream came flooding back to it. "Shit," she mumbled, rolling over, dragging the blanket with her. "It was all a fuckin' dream," she growled, wiping the sweat from her face and sleep residue from her eyes. "That was a cruel thing to do, God." 


	3. Persuasion, Persephone and Cookies

Ookay... the last chapter was a little weird, ne? Well, that's just the start of it! *grin*  
  
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Ziren paced back and forth in her room, staring at the kitchen unit every time she passed it. «Everything, *EVERYTHING* is where it was in the dream, apart from Neo, who's probably off shagging Trinity... I don't understand, why would I have a dream about having sex with Neo? Ah, that's it, Zi, you're jealous of Trin, aren't you? As much as you try to hide it, you looooove Neo, don't you?» The voice in her head was bitter and malicious, and gave her the idea of a little devil sitting on her shoulder like in cartoons and the old TV she used to watch in the Matrix. «No, no, that's not true!» she bickered back, «I don't... I... I can't love Neo.» She leaned against the cold, submarine-like door and slid down until she sat on the floor in a small heap. «Then you're even worse than before, you're just lusting over him for no reason!» The voice sounded so clear, so real... she hated it when her conscience argued and toyed about in her mind. "Screw you! I don't care!" she finally yelled out loud, fists clenched. Then she realised where she was and what she was doing, and it all felt so... stupid. She sighed and got up, opening the door with a quick pull at the wheel-lock, before stepping out into the cool, metallic musk of Zion. She was well away from the great pits where the Earth's core ruptured and produced pure molted fire, and so only the cool mechanical breezes really came up, until it got too cold and the automatic electric heat system would come on. The bright lights that banded the level shone like beacons, not so bright they blinded, but they gave it all an almost etheral feeling. She applied a little pressure to her temples, hands together like in prayed, and then tapped at the metal bars outside. She looked down and could see a group of nuns bustling into the temple, a few young Zion port-hands in their robotic suits greeting newly-returned crews, a young woman braiding her child's hair on the path. It was times like this that she felt particularly useless, especially seeing as thanks to her the Nebuchadnezzar was in for repairs... or was that just a lie in her dream too?   
  
She wandered down the steel steps slowly, every now and then getting a friendly wave from some random citizen, or a 'yo, Ziren!' from someone in her Mechanics classes or prayer groups, and she replied with a distant smile or a wave back, not really paying attention. "You look lost, child." She turned to see an elderly man dressed in a formal scarlet robe. "Councillor Hamann... good, er, whatever time of day it is." The old man smiled at her and looked up at the cavernous top of Zion. "Yes, it is quite difficult to tell... I leave the business of time to the Operators. It is quite safe to use the adage 'the city that never sleeps' when you talk of Zion, eh?" She smiled to humour him. "Perhaps you should see about going to the Oracle, my dear." Ziren leaned on the nearest piece of metal wall overlooking the city. "Chances are I'll probably crash it," she muttered coldly. "Then it might be a fine day for humanity. Go on, my dear. I hear there was a bit of a problem on the Nebuchadnezzar, but that shouldn't break your confidence. You are an unplugged soul, not a hopeless one." She turned back to the Concillor and bowed slightly. "I will... thanks for your time, Councillor." Hamann chuckled slightly. "Time is not a priority, my dear... but I should dearly like to find out whether it is February or not, I believe my birthday falls in that month."   
  
"Plug me in."  
  
"But Captain Morpheus said-"  
  
"Screw what Morpheus said, plug me in, Councillor Hamann advised me to see the Oracle, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. Thank you." Captain Nano was fuming inside at the way she talked of Morpheus, as he was a great believer in him, but dared not disregard a Councillor's orders. "Sit down, then." She walked past coolly and sat in the plug-in chair closest to her. "Sorry for what I said about Morpheus. But I don't think I'm in his good books." Nano checked her vitals on the little screen and then yelled for his ship's Operator, a young Asian girl named Tax (apparently short for 'Syntax', but she wasn't particularly bothered. "We heard about what happened on the Neb, they still haven't found out what crashed the program, but don't worry, the Matrix firewall system means that if there's something liable to crash it, you won't get through or damage anything." She gave Nano the thumbs up. "Got a line, Tax? Okay. Remember to-"  
  
"Keep contact with the Operator, don't get sighted by Agents and tell you straight away when I'm ready to come back for an optimized line out. Don't worry 'bout me, Nano!" she said with a smile, before she went silent as the plug locked with her mind, and she was thrown into the Matrix in a train-station phone-box. "I'm in." She replaced the handset and stepped out of the box. It had been too long since she last came here, or at least it felt like it. She saw herself in a store mirror out in the open of the Matrix and smiled at herself happily - fiery hair tied back exquisitely, upside-down-fixed shades propped neatly at the front of it, and a super-cool outfit comprised of a scarlet vest and trousers, covered by a cinnamon-burgundy which ran down to her ankles. Generally when freed minds went into the Matrix they wore a white or black suit, but she had always coloued her hair like fire before she was unplugged, and continued with her style afterwards. "Man, I look cool. Now... Oracle, Oracle..." She took out her tiny silver phone. "Hiya Tax, could you give me directions?... ahuh... yep... sixth floor... elevator... okay... right, thanks!" She flipped it back, and with a sigh, threw it into the bin next to her. It always felt somewhat a waste having to dispense of them all the time but seeing as there was no money lost it didn't really matter as such. She walked through the city with a sense of ease, though at the back of her mind, the dread of the last assault on her by the Agents began to tear at her. Ziren walked down the street at a casual pace, looking at the people who went by with intrigue, occasionally bumping into someone else from Zion, who'd simply look across at her or twitch their hand slightly, no sign of great recognition but enough to show who they were. After a while as she made her way to the trippy old flat of the Oracle, she started looking out for other freed minds to keep her occupied on the way there, but soon enough she lost track and walked into someone, or, to be more precice, four.  
  
"Aaah. Well if it isn't anuzzer freed mind," one of the gentlemen said, helping her up. Looking at them, they were an odd group - the man who was helping her up was meticulously groomed, a woman who she though must have been his wife or mistress or something, and either side of them, two men who she could think of no other phrase than 'freakishly albino'. "Thanks," she said as she let go of his hand, which was a little cold to the touch. "It is as you say, no problem. I am Monsieur Merovignian... and you, ma dear?" She brushed herself off lightly and looked across at the woman, who looked a little upset at him. "Ziren. I haven't heard of anyone called Merovignian ... before," she stumbled, very nearly saying 'in Zion'. "Zat is because we are programs," the woman interrupted. "I am Persephone," she started, and then, getting closer to her, saying in an almost-whisper, "and zis mongrel, ma pitiful excuse for a husband, it seems, will be nothing but trouble to you." Ziren raised an eyebrow as Persephone stepped back to her husband's side. The Twins smiled coldly, eyes hidden behind their shades. "May I haz ze pleasure of asking where you are going?" he continued, trying not to appear annoyed by his wife. "Nowhere, really. Just going round," she lied, and attemped to begin her depart. "Iz zat so, mm? Zen how come you are heading in ze direction of ze Oracle?" Ziren growled and walked past. «Programs can be so *annoying*,» she thought as she pushed past Merovignian. "Very well, mademoiselle. Au revoir, until we meet again. Come along, Persephone! I feel like treating you wiz a slice of ma chef's... most exceptional gâteau..." Persephone looked over her shoulder with a warning glower as her husband led her off, the Twins still at their sides. Ziren was a little shaken up by the experience, but didn't let it bother her too much. By what she'd heard, the Oracle wasn't one for giving out the best news in the world.  
  
In the sitting room, she sat down on the sofa, one leg crossed over the other, watching intriguedly as a small boy talked to a younger one who staring at a spoon. He turned round at looked at her. "Do you want to try? Do not try to bend the spoon itself, for in reality, there is no spoon, instead, bend the world to fit the spoon." It was a little confusing at first, but she got the idea of it, it was a lot simpler than the prospect of, say, flying, for instance. She looked at the space where the spoon was, and focused on it. "The Oracle will see you now," a young girl said timidly behind her. "Okay, thank you." She looked at the boy again. "Maybe some other time, hm?" She wanted to stand up and ruffle his hair before she went into the room where the girl was pointing, but seeing as he had no hair that would be difficult. She stood up nonetheless and walked through the beaded curtain into a kitchen, where the Oracle, an ageing woman, was sitting with a cup of coffee at the unit. "Hello there, dear. Please, sit down." Ziren sat down on the seat next to her. "You're quite good at following orders, I see, unless they seem to come from that old Morpheus," she said with a smile. Ziren remained silent. "You're lost, aren't you, that's why you came here." She nodded. There was no point in asking anything because the Oracle knew what she was going to ask. "Very well then..." The Oracle turned over the fiery-haired young woman's hands and sighed. "You freed minds never seem to have any luck once you're out, do you! But you want to know, so I guess I should tell you, it ain't pretty though." Ziren swallowed and nodded again. "You're going to betray the man in your dreams, but don't worry, you'll get revenge for your actions with the help of those who you'd never think of helping you." Ziren sniffed and nodded one last time, before standing up. "Alright. Thank you."  
  
Back out on the street, she was a little dazed by what the Oracle had said to her, and wandred around with no real sense of place. «I'm going to betray Neo...? I'm going to betray Neo... no, that can't be right, why would I betray Neo? And how? And what did she mean about getting revenge for my actions? Ack, I'm more confused now than I was before I came here...» Her thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of people in directly in front of her again. "So we meet again, eh?" She looked up and cringed at the voice. "Merovignian. What do you want now?" She folded her arms and stared at the figure in front of her. For a second she dared to think of him as a man, but it slowly dawned on her again that he was no more than a simulated cold-hearted program. "Ah, ze question is not what I want, but moreover, what you want, or should I say, *who* you want." She blinked in fear and confusion. "Neo..." she mouthed, unable to stop herself from saying it. "Wiz a little persuasion on both sides, I could get him for you... wiz a little persuasion. Of course, I will need somezing from you in return. What do you say to zat, ma dear?" 


	4. The Thrill of Neo II

So... will our dear friend Mero tempt Ziren? Let's just see... oh, and this chapter's a little... grpahic, a treat for the Kirby Kid, perhaps? *grin* Obviously, it's not too graphic, a 14-year-old pr0n writer I am not!  
  
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###Matrix Adventures###  
  
"What... what do you..." Merovignian smiled, although it looked more like a pretentious sneer. "Ze answer iz simple, ma dear. You give me what I need, and I shall give you a night wiz Neo." Ziren swallowed, not taking her eyes off the elusive Frenchman. "But Trinity-" He gazed right into her, and she felt stupid for having this sense he was real, that he was actually, physically real... «the Matrix is trying to make me believe again,» she thought coldly. "Trinity will nezzer have to find out, cherie." She shut her eyes in attempt to break off his alluring stare. "All I ask for in return, iz zat I can test my new culinary... delight on you. I have been working on it for quite a while, and I dare not allow my dear Persephone to taste it until it is just perfect." Ziren wiped her mouth and opened her eyes. «Well... litterally, I get to have Mero's cake and eat it, and I get to sleep with Neo? But... wait, is that what the Oracle meant? Oh God... by giving into... agh, I hate saying this, giving into my desire, my lust for Neo... am I betraying him, honestly?» Merovignian watched her think, almost reading her thoughts and tempting her further. "I... I... that is... I... oh, shit, I don't believe I'm saying this... alright..." Merovignian cracked a sly grin. "Zat iz what I was expecting... come along zen, ma cherie."  
  
"It iz quite different to my other creations, but hopefully... well, try it for yourself." She sat down in one of the expensive chairs, her jacket draped around the back. It was a small slice of torte-like pastry on a silver-edged plate. Ziren took one of the solid silver forks from the table and cut into the torte. She held it, hovering near her lips for a few seconds, her watchful eyes on Mero as she swallowed the tip of the pastry in one bite. "Mm... it's... good." Suddenly, she felt a rush of heat and stood up abruptly, before pouncing on Merovignian and kissing him like she did Neo in her dream. «What the fuck...? What am I *DOING*?!» "Zat will be enough, ma dear," Mero said after a few minutes. "I am quite pleased wiz ze results... now... I will lure your precious Neo into ze Matrix, and you will get what you want. Go to zis address... I will keep ze Agents away for you. Remember, you only have one night, so use it wisely, cherie." He handed her a piece of white card with an address printed in silver on it. "Wait a minute... this is my old flat." Mero smiled again. "Neo will not be long."  
  
Morpheus banged on the door of Trinity's room on the Nebuchadnezzar. "Trinity, Neo, break it up - I have an assignment for Neo." From through the wall he could hear Trinity whining playfully. "Come on, step to it." A few minutes later, Neo emerged in a t-shirt and shorts, still kissing Trinity, who was wrapped up in the blanket, which Neo was reluctant to keep her covered with. "Okay, Morpheus, what's up?" The tall, dark man helped close the locks on the footrest as Neo sat back in the plug-chair. "Our old friend Merovignian requires your assistance in some matters with freed minds, and he doesn't want you being tracked or watched by an Operator... that's all the details I have, but knowing Mero... be prepared for anything, and keep on your fuard." Neo was only half-paying attention, still preoccupied with the thought of Trinity. A few moments later, and he arrived outside Merovignian's grand restaurant. "Ah, Monsieur Neo! I've been expecting you."  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
"Please, come in, Neo." He stepped through from the lobby next to the telephone and into the restaurant intself, where suddenly Merovignian jabbed him in the back with a needle before he could even think of stopping it. "You may be fast, Neo, but you are not fast enough for me," he muttered as Neo shuddered violently. "There, all better." Neo took off his shades and stared at the Frenchman. "No, not me," Mero said with a smile, patting Neo on the shoulder. "My old coppertops will take you to where you are required." From what seemed out of nowhere, two men escorted Neo out of the building and into a sleek limo. "Persephone, ma cherie! I have a gift for you!" he called out, carrying the plate with the torte on it into the back rooms.  
  
By the time Neo arrived, it was starting to darken outside, and the sky was turning grey-red. He was dropped off at the bottom of the apartment block with the card in his hand, and made his way up to number 304, where Ziren sat cross-legged on her bed, her stomach churning with excitement and passion and guilt. «This is wrong, this is terrible,» she thought, but then the cold, venomous voice of her conscience set in. «Yes, but you want it, don't you... you want nothing better than to sleep with Neo, and this time, it's real. Forget Trinity, forget Morpheus, forget Zion, and just enjoy the night while you can...» Her throughts were intercepted by a knocking at the door. "Coming," she called, and got up to open the door, only to somehow end up being held against it in a kiss. "Neo..." she breathed, staring deep into the young man's dark brown eyes. The young woman put her hand to his chest and swallowed. "Tell me you love me," she whispered in his ear as he left a trail of kisses down her neck. "I love you, Ziren," he replied, lifting her vest to touch her stomach, which made her sigh as he seemed to go right through her and heal the constant weak nagging of the Agent attack inside her. "Show me you love me," she whispered back, and she got her reply, as his hand trailed round her back and up her spine, making her shiver, and leading her to her bed, which was in a closet-like room adjoining the hall. It was tiny in itself, made even smaller by the only light in there being a table lamp, and the fact that before she was unplugged she had attempted to fit a double bed in there. She fell back onto the bed, pulling Neo down with her by the front of his black shirt (he had taken off his coat in the car, along with his shades). Ziren stroked his hair gently and smiled. "You don't know how much I've waited for this." Neo kissed her again as she undid his shirt and pulled it off slowly, clinging to his back, arching her own as the dark haired young man pushed against her spine, and then slowly moved it round to her chest, which shifted her scarlet vest even higher up. She moved a hand away from his back to undo his belt and fly, and then used her legs to pull his trousers down, kissing Neo even more passionately than she had been forced to kiss Mero. For a brief second, the fact that Neo didn't actually love her and it was just the effects of Merovignian's dug hit her sharply, but as he stroked her from her collarbone, all the way down to her waist, she couldn't help but disbelieve it. "I love you," she breathed, as she broke free from his lips for a moment to refill her lungs with oxygen, even though she didn't need to as there was no oxygen to breathe, it felt like she should. Neo toyed with the strap on her trousers, which gave Ziren the confidence to find the cord on his boxer shorts and gently tug it downwards. "Ready?" Neo asked in a haute whisper; Ziren nodded, nuzzling against the back of his neck. "Three... two-"  
  
"Wait!" she hissed. The young man paused uncomfortably, his thumbs tense either side of her now open fly. "You're still wearing your socks." Neo laughed softly and dragged them against the end of the bed to pull them off. "Now... three... two... one..." Ziren didn't even bother to look as her back arched again in the darkness with a sigh, digging her nails into his back, her head tilted right back as Neo ran one hand over her naked body and the other through her long, fire-coloured hair. "I love you, Ziren," he uttered, kissing her left shoulder, making his way back up to her lips slowly, teasing her, making her tense and relax as he touched her. "Neo..." the young woman gasped. "Neo, I love you," was just about discernable through the sultry sighs and heavy breaths, and as they made love, she nearly cried with happiness, even though she knew deep down inside it wasn't real and she'd just end up getting into huge trouble for it, and she was god-damn thankful that she'd phoned Tax and told her to take a breather and she'd call back when she wanted to come back, and that Merovignian had told her that Neo would be alone in his plug-room, it was all so deceitful and wrong but it didn't seem to matter, especially not when she had her legs locked around Neo's waist, a part of her determined to bond with him, to be as one with him. «Hell,» she thought briefly, «maybe that freaky lewd stuff can happen in the Matrix..»  
  
The next time Ziren woke up, it was around 2:30am, and Neo's arms were gently around her waist, and he had nuzzled into the back of her neck. She turned to him, trying her hardest not to disturb him and looked at him; a vision of tired perfection, a vision that would be gone forever in a few more hours. She knew she had to wake him up, as much as it pained her to do so. "Neo... Neo, my love... wake up, darling..." He squinted through the almost-pitch darkness. "Ziren...?" he mumbled, still half-asleep. "I think you should get dressed... I don't want you to have to rush later." Neo whined softly in protest, but Ziren smiled hopelessly and kissed him gently on the nose. "I don't want you to get up either, but it's for the best..." As he got up and scrounged for his boxer shorts on the floor, she watched him longingly, wrapped up in her scarlet duvet. «He won't remember any of this in a few hours... it's so sad. But like I said, it's for the best... I hope...» Eventually he was dressed again, though a little unsure of where he left his shades and jacket. «Oh God... it's already starting to wear off...» "Don't worry about it, sugar," she muttered, looking across warily at the clock, which shone 2:48, feeling more like it was burning into her skin than simply gently reflecting off her face. "Come back to bed..." Neo crawled back over and lay next to her, gazing into her eyes through the dim. "You look upset." Ziren smiled weakly and stroked the young man's dark hair again. "I'm fine... you go back to sleep, love. You'll have a busy day ahead," she cooed, and gently ran her hand over his face to close his eyes.   
  
Ziren left the Matrix the next day feeling like she had the 'flu, but a thousand times worse, not that she'd actually properly experienced influenza but that was beyond the point. She nursed her aching temples as she got out of the chair. "You were gone ages, you're damn lucky," Tax commented as the now mousey-brown haired girl wandered out of the Zion-docked ship, quite tired as she'd had to feign sleep for several hours, not letting herself actually sleep, which made her ache even more. Neo hadn't remembered a thing, and din't have a clue where he was and why he was there, and only remembered up to the point of being dropped outside Merovignian's restaurant - Ziren had made up the pre-organized excuse that Mero had used the false data as a ploy to get Neo to eat at the restaurant as he had so 'impolitely refused' the last time, and Ziren had taken him back to her old flat because he#d asked to see it, and had fallen asleep there. Mero had even made the drug so it appeared on his record that he had eaten. He was a very clever man, albe him a slightly perverted one. Yet somehow, although everything had assumedly turned out fine, the guilt was settling heavy and would not leave, and distantly reminded her of the pain of the Agents.  
  
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Well... there ya go. It's late and I haven't had my Red Bull yet. 


	5. Enter Naobri

Well... that was nice, wasn't it? Hehe, on with da show, my pretties...  
  
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###Matrix Adventures###  
  
Disorientated and half-asleep, she lay down on a sideway, too tired and miserable to even begin the notion of finding her home. "Ziren? Zi, s'that you?" Nano's voice drifted into earshot. "Hunh?" She rolled over and looked up. "Nano? Hm... wha... eh?" She squinted into view of his feet. "Ziren, what are you doing down here?" He stooped down, two thin brown plaits falling it his face. Nano was very cool, in her opinion. He had pale tanned skin, eyes the same brown shade as Neo's, a short chocolate-brown goatee, and a mass of rough brown hair, plaited at the front and left to grow down quite a bit at the back. He reminded her of Jesus, in a way. He was her ex-captain, because of her volatile behaviour, and she somewhat agreed with her firing, but nonetheless he was still a good friend. "Mrf... Ma...trix... sleep..." she growled, eyes shutting involuntarily. "C'mon, Zi, I'll take you up." Ziren blinked hard to try and clear her eyes. "Wha?" Before she could do anything to stop him, Nano had picked her up, swung her round onto his back, and made the steady way up the metal steps to her cell of a home without argument. "Thank you," she mumbled, her arms hanging down from his shoulders.   
  
It could have been a few hours, or perhaps a whole day, she couldn't think, but either way she was covered loosely by her blanket, her muscles still aching from overly-intense sex. She rolled off the bed and onto the floor with a painful thud and crawled across to the door, pulling herself up on the wheel-lock. She stumbled outside and stretched as much as her body would let her in its state, which wasn't very far, but enough. She leaned over the balcony again and looked down. In her mind's eye, she saw herself swing over and fall down at a blistering speed, crashing through to dock grids right into the core of the earth. She shook her head with disappointment and wandered over to the elevator. She'd never really liked it, as she'd been trapped in it the first day she came to Zion, but was too exhausted to walk all the way down to the Temple, which was quite near to the core. The grid-floor was lined with candles, intersparsed with monks and sleeping mothers. "You have many a shadow to hide, my child. Come, bask in the light and perhaps you will rise from them awhile." She looked across at the man who spoke to her, a monk by the looks of it. "Thanks." She sat down amisdt the candlelight and sighed wearily. This was not how everything was meant to turn out. Her mind whirred with anger and confusion - would they find out about her deal with the Merovignian? Would Neo remember - what about Trinity - and Morpheus? Her eyes snapped shut, trying to block out her mind.   
  
"Heya, Zi's." Her attention warmed back to the surface. Only one person called her "Zi's", when he was trying to cheer her up. "Naobri." He grinned and crouched down so he was at her level on the pathside, and reminded her a little of a dog. Naobri was not much taller than Nano and had short, spiky blue hair, which was looking particularly grimy. Nobody knew where he got the hair dye, and nobody ever questioned him about it. His eyes were iron grey and always seemed to spark with some crazy idea. "Aww, what's up with my favourite ex-shipmate?" He smiled and sat down next to her. Naobri had been her 'mission buddy'. "Nothing I'll bug you with, 'Bri," she replied, rubbing her eyes. "You look wasted, Zi's... maybe you should join us sometime." She glanced across achily. "You know it's generally frowned upon to work for other ships." He scratched an eyebrow, not interested in what she had to say. "Jeeeesus, Ziren Diget... I mean a party. We have loads of them. Right down near the core." He looked a litle distant as he thought about it. "Sorry, Naobri. I can't. I've got... stuff to sort out." Naobri shrugged, patted her on the head as got up, then wandered off. "Okays, suit yourself - I'm gonna find Syn." Ziren sighed and put her head in her hands. Nothing felt right any more. «I can't run away, I can't, but they'll make me go back, and how would I deal with having face them all? Damnit, Ziren, why do you have to complicate everything?» Sleep overcame her again.   
  
Ziren was awoken quite abruptly sometime later with a light shaking of her shoulder. "Wake up, you've got a mission. I hope you've had a good rest, you'll need it." She squinted and yawned a little. "Whua? Oh..." Opening her eyes, she saw Neo looking down at her, his words now ringing in her head. "Neo-" she gasped, and forced herself to calm down to finish her sentence, "- oh, right. I'll just get my head together... right." Neo left the room, and with him took the tension deep in her stomach. «Shit.» She yawned again, properly, then scrabbled to her feet, climbed wearily up the tunnel ladder and stumbled to her chair. «They're not watching me... they don't know... thank God...» Ziren sat down with a little more ease and lay back, her feet being locked up tight. "It's a simple task," Morpheus explained as he set up the vital screens for everyone else, "all you have to do is collect up some minds. There was a warning of a possible Agent attack on a Freeing base, so stay on your guard. Neo, keep a good look out." Ziren didn't even feel the pin enter her head. «Possible Agent attack on a Freeing base...» She nearly fell over when she reached the Matrix, still in a daze. "This time, it won't go wrong. They'll all come out. I promise." Morpheus looked across at her. "We can only try our best, Ziren." His words were meant to realise they might not be able to do it, but all it did was fuel her more. "Well, if it ain't the cavalry." The Neb group walked out of the room to find themselves on a wooden crate platform at a harbour. Loitering around and on some crates, were Nano, Naobri and a girl she couldn't recall the name of.   
  
"Nano, it's good to be working with you again!" Morpheus called, and shook the hand of the younger man. "Morpheus, sir, it's an honour." Trinity turned to Neo. "Captain Nano worked with Morpheus before he aquired the Neb," she explained, and he nodded in comprehension. "Zi's!" Naobri called out, and jumped off the crate he was sitting on. "I see you haven't ditched the look in here!" Ziren grinned at the young man in front of her. The last time they had been in the Matrix together, he wore a black suit and wrap-round shades - today, he was wearing a silver suit and thin, pale shades. "And who's this?" Naobri shuffled to the side so Ziren could look at her properly. She was a little shorter than herself, had long, black hair that was tied into pig-tails, a standard black suit and shades. She was obviously new. "This is Sasha." Sasha nodded in greeting. "She doesn't speak much... still getting over her unplugging, I think. I said we shoulda left behind but Lock said she'd be alright. What that bloody Commander thinks he's doing..." And then he continued, out of Sasha's earshot, "I don't like her... there's something about her... I don't think she can be trusted." Ziren saw the wary glare in Naobri's eyes and knew he wasn't lying. "Okay then. Are we ready?" There was a swish-click of phones and a unified call of, "Operator". Naobri took his film-like specs off and looked down at Ziren. "For all it's worth, I missed my mission buddy," he said quietly, with a soft smile. «No, 'Bri, don't do this... don't screw me up than I already am now... after Neo...» The uneasy moment was halted by Trinity touching her on the shoulder to get her attention. "Sorry?" Trinity smirked, but she didn't appear upset. "We're moving out," she alerted, and then wandered back to Neo's side as they left the harbour. «Naobri... you had to come back now, didn't you, just when I was panicking over Neo, just when I was trying to put everything behind me... I need you to save me, 'Bri...»  
  
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Introducing a lot of new characters! I haven't quite worked out what Sasha has to do with the story yet but that doesn't particularly matter right now. Tee, what's happened between Zi and Bri? Will they ever find out about 'that night'? You're gonna have to waaaait! 


End file.
